Unofficial Title On Line Tonight

June 15, 1987|By Brian Schmitz of The Sentinel Staff

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — No austere, alphabetical organization has sanctioned the fight, not the WBA, WBC, IBF, NBA, PTL or the CIA. But Michael Spinks and Gerry Cooney will meet anyway tonight in a matchup that has, if nothing else, attracted the curious.

It is a 15-round fight between a heavyweight --Spinks -- who doesn't fight like one and another -- Cooney -- who seldom fights.

It is a fight promoted not by Don King or Bob Arum but by one man -- Butch Lewis -- who wears gold and another -- Don Trump -- who invests in it. It is a fight not for a title but for a $10,000 custom-made snakeskin belt that reads ''World Heavyweight Champion.''

Sounds like the WWA -- World Wrestling Alliance -- huh? This isn't a loser-leave-town match. The loser gets off lucky. The winner, eventually, gets to fight Mike Tyson.

Spinks and Cooney don't need some group to recognize, and therefore plug, the winner in their ratings.

''It's not the alphabet soup that decides who's champion. It's the people, the fans,'' Spinks said. ''To be claimed by the public as their champ, and undefeated . . . that's all I want, belt or no belt.''

''It's nice not to have those organizations around,'' Cooney said. ''What's the IBF anyway? There never have been any rules in boxing. Look. Spinks beat Larry Holmes. I'm fighting Spinks. That's what it's all about.''

Although most of the groups recognize Tyson as undisputed champion, Cooney has a point. Spinks' link to the crown trails back through Holmes to Ken Norton to Muhammad Ali.

Spinks lost the IBF belt he won from Holmes after pulling out of King's heavyweight series to fight Cooney. Holmes had forfeited recognition as champion by the WBC and WBA.

So what we have tonight at the 17,000-seat Convention Center in Trump Plaza is not a Cecil B. de Mille production. It's just a good old regular heavyweight bout, the kind you used to see on the Gillette Friday Night Fights.

Much of the story line focuses on Cooney, still, amazingly, an unknown quantity. He has been The Great White Ghost since losing to Holmes five years ago, fighting just seven rounds in three fights. His last fight was May 1986, a first-round knockout of Eddie Gregg.

Beset by a myriad of real or imagined problems that kept him in mothballs, Cooney (28-1, 24 KOs) has a shot to rectify the situation. A victory sets up a megafight against Tyson.

As usual, Cooney, 30, has the physical advantages. At 6 feet 7 and 238 pounds, he has a 5-inch height and a 30-pound weight advantage over Spinks. The question is whether he still can use his vaunted left hook effectively -- he had a torn rotator cuff two years ago -- and can catch the elusive, defensive-minded Spinks.

''I have to slow him down, work on his body,'' Cooney said. ''I have to pick my shots and not let him frustrate me.''

Spinks (30-0, 20 KOs) knows it is in his best interest to stay off the ropes and on his bicycle as long as possible. A tactical but awkward counter-puncher, Spinks, 30, hopes Cooney's inactivity eventually exhausts him.